The world's best conservation projects worth travelling for
From coral gardens in French Polynesia to rewilded forests in Romania, a new generation of conservation projects invites travellers to witness — and support — environmental restoration in action.
The best travel experiences introduce you to people you’ll never forget. Through these six projects you may meet a seventysomething freediver fishing in Japanese waters, a former logger in Ecuador who tracks glass frogs by torchlight, or friends in French Polynesia who’ve turned their childhood reef into an underwater coral nursery. Meeting them transforms conservation from headline news into something tangible, something you can be part of. These projects span continents and ecosystems, tackling species recovery and heritage preservation. What unites them is the opportunity to meet the individuals leading such efforts and contribute your time. Some involve luxury resorts funding habitat restoration, others are expedition-style trips into protected wilderness, but all demonstrate how travel can support the preservation of extraordinary species and traditions.
1. Ecuador’s cloud forests
Cloud forests are rare high-altitude ecosystems where mist-shrouded trees support extraordinary biodiversity. Those in Chocó, Ecuador, are among the world’s most threatened, yet the country still boasts 20% more animal and plant species than the United States, which is 35 times larger. In 2001, former Quito mayor Roque Sevilla bought 1,500 acres from a logging company and turned it into the Mashpi Reserve, retraining local loggers and poachers as researchers. One team surveying the Amagusa River discovered a 2cm transparent frog when their torches lit up the creature at night. It took five years to document the Mashpi glass frog, a species that could have vanished before science knew it existed. Mashpi has since recorded 24 new species, with guests staying at the organisation’s glass-fronted lodge able to help conservationists analyse sounds from eco-acoustic monitoring devices or head out on birdwatching excursions to spot the species they’ve helped identify. The best view is from aboard the Dragonfly gondola, where you can see howler monkeys, hummingbirds, wolverine-like tayras and more.
2. Romania’s rewilding
The Carpathian Mountains contain some of Europe’s last intact wilderness. Virgin beech forests stretch across remote valleys where brown bears roam and wolf packs move through moonlit clearings. Romania holds roughly half the continent’s remaining old-growth woodlands, and Foundation Conservation Carpathia is responsible for protecting some 200,000 acres of it. It’s busy establishing ‘Europe’s Yellowstone’, supporting the continent’s largest brown bear population and reintroducing the European bison to its original habitat. Meanwhile, areas affected by illegal logging are being transformed into biodiversity farms such as Cobor, where native grey cattle graze among restored forests. Naturetrek’s tours give travellers the chance to visit conservation projects, spot mammals from hides and meet restoration teams. A nine-day adventure might include sightings of bears, bison, wolves, lynx and golden orioles across mist-wreathed ridges and ancient forest floors. You’ll be surrounded by trees that predate medieval Europe, experiencing a silence broken only by rustling leaves and distant animal calls.
3. Costa Rica’s sea turtles
Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast is where the Térraba-Sierpe wetlands meet the ocean, creating one of Central America’s most biodiverse zones. Scarlet macaws fly overhead while crocodiles patrol mangrove rivers, and beaches serve as nesting sites for four endangered sea turtle species: olive ridley, green, leatherback and hawksbill. Reserva Playa Tortuga was founded in 2009 by local residents and scientists to protect nesting turtles from poaching. Since then, the reserve has released over 50,000 hatchlings. During nesting season (July to December), volunteers join night patrols searching for females coming ashore to lay eggs. Most nests are relocated to a protected hatchery where staff monitor them around the clock. Volunteers measure turtles, relocate eggs and release tiny hatchlings by the ocean at dawn — few experiences compare to watching baby turtles scramble across the sand towards the wide Pacific.
4. French Polynesia’s coral reefs
French Polynesia’s lagoons shimmer in gradients of turquoise and sapphire, with the water so clear you can see fish darting through the coral gardens below. Sadly, these ecosystems are disappearing fast. Half the world’s coral has already been lost in the last 30 years, and without urgent action, all coral reefs could face extinction by 2050. In Mo’orea, Titouan Bernicot rallied his friends and founded Coral Gardeners to fight reef decline in the waters they swam in as children. The project cultivates climate-resilient coral fragments in underwater nurseries, selecting specimens that survived bleaching events. They’re propagated then replanted on damaged reef sections, with growth tracked using AI technology. The approach blends traditional Polynesian knowledge with marine science, creating a model being replicated across the Pacific. Visitors join daily missions through the Nurseries Boat Experience. After a briefing, participants sail into the lagoon to work alongside coral gardeners, snorkelling above nursery sites and encountering the parrotfish, butterfly fish and rays that have made these regenerating gardens their home.
5. Japan’s ama divers
For over two millennia, ama divers have plunged into coastal waters without oxygen tanks, relying on breath control to gather abalone, scallops and sea urchins. These freedivers are almost exclusively women and represent a vanishing tradition. In 1978, there were 9,100 ama across Japan. Today, only 2,000 remain, roughly 1,000 of whom work in Ise-Shima. What’s being lost isn’t just a profession but generations of sustainable fishing knowledge. The ama regulate diving time and harvest seasons, only taking abalone above specific sizes to ensure populations remain at healthy levels. In 2017, the tradition was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the Japanese government. Amanemu resort works with veteran ama to preserve the tradition while providing income. From May to October, guests can join ama searching for seafood. Once ashore, they return to traditional amagoya huts to prepare fresh-caught seafood over charcoal while sharing stories about fishing villages and the changing relationship between communities and the sea.
6. South Africa’s Big Five
Lions stalking the savannah; elephants gathering at waterholes; rhinos raising calves beneath the Suurberg Mountains — South Africa’s Eastern Cape is home to many of Africa’s most incredible wildlife spectacles. However, its species face pressures from poaching and habitat fragmentation, with private reserves now leading the charge in conservation work. Take Shamwari — a pioneer in the field for 30 years — which has transformed 60,000 acres into a thriving Big Five habitat. The reserve operates the Eastern Cape’s only registered wildlife rehabilitation centre, the Born Free Foundation. It runs a big cat sanctuary for rescued lions and leopards, while its anti-poaching units protect rhinos using sophisticated tracking systems. Through the Shamwari Conservation Experience, visitors join the wildlife department for two weeks. Work includes tracking rhinos and elephants with telemetry equipment, setting camera traps, joining anti-poaching patrols and assisting at the rehabilitation centre. Accommodation is at Proctors Safari Lodge, where evenings are spent under starry skies and zebras wander past breakfast tables.
